Thursday, August 18, 2005

It's that time again...

Yup, it's Thursday, which means that it's time to go through the Jewish Week and find some fun stuff to post about. (I had intended to post this last night but things got a bit out of hand.)

[For some reason, the Jewish Press has yet to update their website...the print copy of their paper is already in my house with more on the R' Tendler case and a spectacular op-ed about Yachad which I'll post if they put it up online.]

So far as I could tell there's nothing too interesting in any of the articles. So, we turn to the letters page. Ah! Now here's some bloggable material!

Most sarcastic letter of the week:

Abortion Decision

Marla Feldman certainly got it right in her Opinion piece when she wrote that “the overwhelming consensus of American Jewry supports” abortion on demand (“Roe As A Jewish Issue,” Aug. 5). After all, how do Reform rabbis and their congregations make decisions on the burning issues of the day? With abortion, as with other areas of Jewish life, convenience and expediency win over authentic halacha hands down.

Malka Weinstock

Staten Island, N.Y.

It's so good, it almost seemed serious!

But this one takes the cake as The Letter of the Week:

Too Simplistic

As someone who appreciates Gary Rosenblatt’s intelligence and integrity as a journalist, I was surprised at his column “Disengagement: Why U.S. Jews Are Quiet” (Aug. 12).

It is far too simplistic to say those Americans who support disengagement must be ill informed. I know there are Americans — as well as Israelis, for that matter — who are well informed and even empathize with the hardships of the Gaza settlers but believe the disengagement from Gaza is in Israel’s best interest.

Alan Fell

New York, N.Y.

So good on so many levels, where to begin? Well, I'll start from the top.

Second, saying that "I know there are Americans who are well informed and even empathize with the hardships of the Gaza settlers but believe the disengagement from Gaza is in Israel's best interest" does nothing to substantiate your conclusion. A) What you cite as "proof" is purely anecdotal ("I know...") and is contradicted by several studies published recently (as cited in Rosenblatt's article). B) People can have beliefs but that certainly doesn't make them well informed.

Now, I'm debating whether to add this to the next list we'll surely compile about NYJW (wow, then we'll have six items to list!) in the future. On the one hand, they didn't write it. On the other, they did publish this trash and should be held accountable.